Putting up a Newark parking lot without permission?

Edison Properties, a real estate company, has expanded one of 10 parking lots it owns in Newark on Central Avenue – without permission from the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The Newark Landmark and Historic Preservation Commission and city residents knew it was going to happen.

They just didn't know when Edison Properties was going to make its move.

Then last month, resident Bill Chappel, who lives downtown, saw work being done in the Military Park Historic District.

Edison Properties, a real estate company owned by Jerry Gottesman, was expanding one of 10 parking lots it owns in the city on Central Avenue – without permission from the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Chappel took pictures of the freshly paved lot, where a construction crew was finishing up work on the sidewalk, and sent them to the historic commission.

Edison's actions continue to frustrate Bill Mikesell, chairman of the commission."They just do whatever they want,"he says. "There is no compliance with any municipal ordinance."

In Newark, a parking lot is not a permitted use, which means Edison must get approval from the city's zoning board to expand any existing lot. It also needs to get approval from the commission because this particular site is located in a historic district.

And there's more. Mikesell says the paved lot doesn't have proper drainage. A new sidewalk Edison installed needs a permit. The chain-link fence and guardrail Edison erected haven't been approved, either. And there's no aesthetic buffer, such as trees or shrubs.

By now, you know a month has gone by.

So, what's next?

Edison isn't saying anything, at least to me. It hasn't responded to several of my inquiries.

An email to a zoning board member also got no response.

Dave Robinson, a commission member, says the company offered up this weak answer: The cars parked on that portion of the lot belong to employees.

Yeah, right.

Robinson says city ordinances require that employee parking be on the same site as the company's headquarters, which is located around the corner at Washington and Bleeker streets.

"They're trying to slip the wool over someone's eyes,"he says. "Let's put an end to this."

The commission has asked the city administration to tell Edison to stop parking cars in that section of the lot until it gets approval from the zoning board. Right now, Mikesell says, Edison can get 24 cars in the space on which a school building once stood.

Patrick Council, director of the city's department of Recreation and Neighborhood Services, says his office, which overseas code enforcement, is prepared to cite the company for violating city law. But getting Edison to stop using the expanded property as a parking lot may have to come from his bosses in the department of Housing and Economic Development.

Still waiting on Baye Adofo-Wilson, director housing of economic development, to make the call.

Bumping heads with Edison is nothing new for the historic commission. What makes this problem so egregious is that if the owner of a Newark home in a historic district wants to do renovations, such as changing a window, the person can't do anything until he or she appears before the commission.

The same should hold true for Edison, and it hasn't.

Last year, the company did not petition the commission before it knocked down two buildings in adjacent downtown historic districts, including the one in which this Central Avenue parking lot is located, as well as another, around the corner at Washington and Bleeker streets.

Edison claimed the buildings – one of them was the school building – were not structurally sound. City officials agreed with Edison's engineer that the structures were a threat to public safety and, after a hearing at which that information was presented, the company received permission from a municipal court judge to demolish them.

The commission questioned the findings before the demolition, saying the buildings were solid. Its members and residents claim Edison allowed the buildings to deteriorate, so it could justify razing them – for one reason only. Both structures were adjacent to Edison parking lots that the company wanted to expand.

"Surface parking lots are basically a city killer," Chappel says. "No one comes to Newark for parking lot tourism."

When I wrote about this issue last year, I ended the column by saying residents would most likely attend a zoning board meeting to stop Edison from expanding its parking lot, since they couldn't stop the buildings from being demolished.

They didn't get chance with the Central Avenue lot, but they still have a shot with the Edison lot next to vacant land at Washington and Bleeker streets.

If the company tries to expand onto that property, do you think it will seek approval from the zoning board and historic commission?